Three entrants have been named as winners of the “Boston Connection” contest organized by the Boston 2026 World Expo.
Announced in November, collectors were invited to submit lists of stamps and souvenir sheets related in some way with Boston, site of the next U.S. international philatelic exhibition.
Pedro D. Sarmiento of Fort Washington, Maryland, provided the greatest number of connections with 88. He is a fan of John F. Kennedy, and many of his submissions of US and overseas stamps dealt with aspects of the former president, born and raised in nearby Brookline and educated at Harvard University. Pedro is “90 years young,” an Air Force veteran and member of the APS and ATA, among other philatelic organizations.
The next two winners were selected at random.
Keith Christian of York, Pennsylvania, is also an APS member and just joined the ATA at the Great American Stamp Show in Cleveland this past August. His list included some interesting sports trivia. Willie O-Ree, featured on two 2023 Canadian stamps, was the first black hockey player in the NHL, called up from the minor leagues by the Boston Bruins in 1958. He identified five additional former Bruins players and several Boston Red Sox baseball stars depicted on stamps.
Frank Silviera of Wilmington, Massachusetts, will have a short commute to the Boston 2026 show. His U.S. and American Flag collecting interests were reignited during the Covid pandemic, now as a member of the APS and Waltham Stamp Club based in Weston, MA at the Spellman Museum. Among items he noted was that the first lighthouse built in North America was at Boston Harbor in 1716, and Dr. Martin Luther King received his PhD at Boston University in 1955.